Research Associate (Fixed Term)

Applications are invited for a post-doctoral research associate in Receptor Evolution to work with Prof Uta Paszkowski at the Crop Science Centre, starting between 1 August and 1 September 2021.

The beneficial interaction of plants with endomycorrhizal fungi commences via mutual recognition in the rhizosphere.  We identified a receptor complex that is required for perception of beneficial fungi by plants [Gutjahr, Gobbato et al., Science (2015), Choi et al., Nat Commun 2020], and also for plant development. Preliminary data suggest that the symbiosis signalling ability is a derived and not an ancestral trait. This project seeks to reproduce the evolutionary trajectory in order to define the protein features that condition signalling specificity. The projected work will involve a high-resolution metagenomics approach combined with functional validation in rice. Applicants must have a solid background in plant molecular genetics; available knowledge in basic bioinformatics, running command-line tools and performing data analysis in R or Python would be advantageous.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 28 months in the first instance. 

Please note that if you have not received any news from us 1 month after the closing date you should consider that on this occasion your application has not been successful.

Please quote reference PD35142 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

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